Blue–Green Rivalry    Men's Soccer First Meeting 1967 Games Played 71 All-time series UCSB leads: 45–18–8 Men's Basketball First Meeting 1937 Games Played 107 All-time series UCSB leads: 73–34

The Blue–Green Rivalry is the name of the rivalry between athletic teams from the University of California, Santa Barbara (Gauchos) and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Mustangs). Athletic competition between the two schools began in the 1921 on the football field.

The rivalry is best known recently for its games between the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer and Cal Poly Mustangs men's soccer teams and is called the "Greatest Rivalry In College Soccer".

History

First meeting The UCSB Gauchos and Cal Poly Mustangs met in their first collegiate athletic event on November 5, 1921. Santa Barbara State Teachers College, as UC Santa Barbara was known then, started a football team and played Cal Poly, with Poly coming out as 42–0 winners.

California Collegiate Athletic Association The rivalry heated up when both schools were members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Gauchos joined the CCAA in 1939 and the Mustangs joined in 1945. The two would remain in-conference rival until the Gauchos departed in 1969 for the newly formed Pacific Coast Athletic Association.

Big West Conference The Pacific Coast Athletic Association would later become known as the Big West Conference. Cal Poly joined in 1996 and the two have been competing in-conference match ups since.

Soccer Attendance Surge In 2007 Cal Poly hosted then defending National Champion, UCSB, in Men's Soccer and promoted it as "Break the Attendance Record" Night. With over 7,000 in attendance, one of the then largest attendances in the history of College Soccer, Cal Poly defeated UCSB 2-1. This changed the rivalry from one that typically saw less than 1,500 fans, to sold out, capacity, stadiums (at Cal Poly)https://mustangnews.net/history-of-the-blue-green-rivalry/ and numerous attendances records over 10,000 at both schools, eventually filling the majority of the Top 25 largest Regular Season Attendances in College Soccer History.http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_soccer_RB/2022/Attendance.pdf

Formalization of the Blue–Green Rivalry The two schools announced the formalization of the Blue–Green Rivalry in 2009 to highlight the athletic accomplishments, but also to promote environmental sustainability. October 2012 saw the schools increase promotions of the rivalry, including the addition of a new website. However, this website has since been discontinued.

Non-conference future The two schools will be separated in men's soccer starting with the 2026 season. With the Big West and Pac-12 Conference entering into a men's soccer alliance at that time, Cal Poly will become an affiliate member of the Pac-12 in Men's Soccer, with UCSB remaining in the Big West. The two will be separated in all sports starting in July 2027, when UCSB leaves the Big West for the West Coast Conference.

Men's soccer The best known of the Blue–Green Rivalry games, Cal Poly and UCSB played each other twice a year in Big West Conference play through the 2026 season. With both schools located on the Central Coast of California less than 100 miles apart. The crowds of these games are record-setting and are among the highest regular season games in NCAA college soccer history.

In 2026, the Big West and Pac-12 Conference, the latter resuming full operation after a two-season hiatus, entered into a men's soccer alliance that will see four Big West members, among them Cal Poly, play as Pac-12 affiliates starting that season. The agreement calls for extensive cross-scheduling between the two conferences. After the 2026 season, the teams will be fully separated when UCSB joins the West Coast Conference.

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Men's basketball

Note: NCAA Division I play only Series table does not include results prior to the 1949–50 NCAA men's basketball season

Source:

[Discontinued] Aggregate All-Sports Results (Formalized rivalry era) School year Champion Score Record 2009–2010 UC Santa Barbara 12–10 UCSB 1–0 2010–2011 ? ? ? 2011–2012 UC Santa Barbara 14–12 UCSB 2–0 2012–2013 UC Santa Barbara 15–14 UCSB 3–0 2013–2014 UC Santa Barbara 13–12 UCSB 4–0 2014–2015 UC Santa Barbara 18–11 UCSB 5–0 2015–2016 UC Santa Barbara 15–10 UCSB 6–0 2016–2017 UC Santa Barbara 14–10 UCSB 7–0 2017–2018 UC Santa Barbara 13–11 UCSB 8–0 2018–2019 UC Santa Barbara 15–10 UCSB 9–0 2019–2020 UC Santa Barbara 10–4 UCSB 10–0 2020–2021 Canceled — —

References

External links

Blue-Green Rivalry on http://www.gopoly.com/